The Noehren's

I seriously loved last week.  It was heaven!  I even had bronchitis and I still loved it!  On Sunday night a mega storm rolled our way and shut down the town for a solid week.  It was the most snow we've gotten in 15 years and the coldest temperatures in 20 years.  It was epic!  We love this stuff.   I didn't know it at the time, but our family seriously needed a week to be snowed in.  It was such a blessing!  Even the University was closed 4 days and so Brian worked from home most days.  I think all of us (especially Brian) had been going on all cylinders for the past 6 months and we were all worn out without even realizing it.  This week gave us a all a chance to chill out, get lots of sleep, read, play, cook and eat together, and play in all of that awesome snow!     By the end of the week we felt totally rejuvenated, healthy, relaxed and closer than before.  We were all ready to get back on a regular sche...

Brian got a birthday surprise from his students the night before his birthday.  I talked him into going to Culvers for some custard and he had no idea he was walking into a surprise.  It was awesome.  His lab arranged it all - I just had to get him there.  I'm so glad he has so many great people to work with that help him run his lab. The cake cracks me up.  The cake lady said she didn't have enough space to write Dr. Noehren, so she put boss.  Haha.  The next day I made a yummy dinner for Brian and my parents and we had a big celebration for Brian's birthday, Valentines Day and my mom's birthday.     Then we went to UK for a fun acapella concert they do each year.   Happy Birthday to my amazing mom and husband!  As an extra birthday bonus, Brian and the work his lab is doing on hip mechanics came out in Runner's World Magazine.  It was a great article!  

Poor January.  It is my least favorite month.  I'm not sure why.  I just feel bleh most January's.  I'm cold, somebody (or everybody) is usually sick, I'm tired from December, I'm poor from December, and I'm overweight from December.  I guess I should blame it all on December - but December is fun and magical and January is reality.  Maybe someday I'll find a better balance!  But in the meantime, here is what we did to get through January. Haley is lucky enough to have the best cat sitting job ever.  She just loves this cat and I'm glad she gets a chance to have a job.    Even in the cold these two have gone for a few jogs together.  As for me, I even think the gym is too cold!    We finally got our first snow in January.  We went sledding early before it melted that afternoon.  I do love snow, snow walks, shoveling, driving in snow and sledding so this was a welcome visitor in January. ...

Brian's parents flew in late Christmas Eve so the kids were super excited to wake up to Mimi and Papa in the house on Christmas morning.  My parents came over later in the day and we all had Christmas dinner together. Mimi brought Canasta cards and Haley talked us into playing about 1000 games over Christmas break.  I actually really like the game, but reached my breaking point of canasta on New Year's Eve.  I guess there is a thing as too much canasta.  Also over break we solved the mystery of Haley's headaches.  Come to find out the girl can hardly see!  Oops.  My bad.  Costco saved the day and her glasses came in about 2 days later.  It was so fun to walk around with her once she got her glasses for the first time.  She couldn't stop giggling!  Look at how happy she is! She kept looking all around and commenting on how things were so bright and colorful...oh, and how my teeth were more yellow than sh...

Last year for Christmas we went on a family trip as our Christmas gift to each other and we loved it so much we decided to do something again this year.  This time we headed to the Opryland Hotel outside of Nashville.  Since we had just been to Nashville a few months before, we didn't even go downtown at all - but spent the whole time at the resort and loved every single minute!   There is a huge mall next door, so before check-in we started our trip with lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.  Their animatronic animals and thunderstorms were cool but our favorite part was anytime anyone ordered the brownie volcano dessert the waiter had to walk all through the restaurant shouting "Volcaaanoooo!"  I bet that gets old after a while.   Next, we went to this big indoor ice display.  We weren't sure what to expect and they give you these coats to wear over your coats so we figured it must be kinda cold.       Yep, it was.  At fir...